Reunion
by Kradvity
Summary: Kagome, Inu-Yasha, Sango and Naraku died 20 years ago. Now their reincarnations live in present Japan. What happens when they have to face the past of their souls? Will they complete the mission they couldn't fulfil in their last lives? InuKag, SangoMirok
1. Unexplained things

So, the main idea of this fic is that Inu-Yasha, Kagome, Sango and Naraku died 20 years ago. Now their reincarnations live in Japan and are destined to face the past of their souls. Sound great, doesn't it... ^^' Oh, and by the way. Because they all died 20 years ago, it means they are supposed to be at the same age. BUT they aren't. So don't think about that. I will explain it later.  
  
Another btw, you can see who's telling the story in every chapter.  
  
Disclaimer: Me don't own Inu-Yasha. But do I own his reincarnation?  
  
Chapter 1 Unexplained things  
  
Rin  
  
You can't really say that life is a one great battle. In a battle there are losers and winners. Life can't be explained so easily. You can always practice for battles and you can learn from your mistakes. In life you can only learn from your mistakes. We are not given a chance to practice, we can't choose between two simple alternatives: fight or escape. The only way to escape life is death, sometimes it is even the best chance you have, but it is not the same as withdrawing from a battle.  
  
This is only my opinion, but I have noticed I am not so wrong after all. Miroku often says to me I think way too much. I can't help it, but he obviously thinks he can. He couldn't save Sango, but he is concerned he can save me. From what? Thinking too much? No-one can 'save' me from it. Maybe I need it. Which is bless, ability to think or ability to avoid deeper brain activity? Actually this thinking-obsess of mine is from Miroku. He taught me to think. He wasn't expecting me to go 'this far'. Most of the people are interested in their property, family or status. Villagers from the forest near our cottage don't have so much property to care of which makes it more valuable. If you want your family to have enough food you have to look carefully after your property. Some people have only their families. Like me. I have never cared about property or status. And now I am starting to doubt if even family-life is meant for me.  
  
I am still searching for my place in this world. When I heard about place where to belong I thought it meant home. It actually is same as home, I see it now. With home I don't mean a house with four walls and a roof. It is something where you want to spent rest of your life. Except if you find another place you love just as much. Home also means people you love the most. For me it was Miroku and our little cottage in the forest middle of Japan. I wanted to spend there the rest of my life.  
  
When Miroku took me, he promised to take good care of me. He didn't let Sesshou-maru to do that. Maybe Sesshou-maru didn't even want. I have never asked him. And I shouldn't bother doing it because the answer would be something I can't draw conclusions from. Miroku is different. He sure is warm-hearted. I didn't know about his fame as a charmer of women. I don't know if Sesshou-maru did. But Miroku's interest towards women disappeared with Sango. Even I was a little girl I somehow guessed he liked Sango, or can I call it love? And I noticed that Sango's death changed something in him. Maybe that's why Sesshou-maru wasn't afraid of giving me to Miroku. Anyway, Miroku is treating me very well, but I am not sure how to react to that. First, when I was little, I thought him as a somekind of a father. Then when I grew up I thought he was in love with me and I thought his overflowing kindness as a normal way to show love. Now I know better. Now he is like a father again.  
  
It is weird how I never kept Sesshou-maru as my father. I guess it is because he was no like father at all. He wasn't even like a big brother. He hardly smiled at me, but I was a child who hadn't learned to think yet, so I just instinctually knew he cared. To be that innocent again... It is so amazing how children just know some things. Well, I knew. I don't know about other children. Akira is very much like me. He hardly saw his father. But he loved Miroku. And I thought Miroku loved me as a wife or a lifemate.  
  
When years passed I realized it wasn't the case. The older I got the more he spoke about his past and journey with Inu-Yasha and Kagome. He remembers everything like it had happened yesterday. I have seen that shady look in his eyes sometimes. It is nothing I can change and it is bothering me. He thinks me as Sango. Unconsciously, of course. He treats me the way he would have treated Sango, talks about things they both attended like I had been there. He even called me Sango once. It was in the middle of his sentence and I wouldn't have noticed it if Akira hadn't said it to me. Maybe I look like Sango. We both have long black hair but most of the Japanese woman do, so ...  
  
Miroku is fully sane and quite healthy. I decided not to worry too much about it. No matter how hard I try to not to think about it I can't help worrying over Miroku. I am afraid he can lose his mind if this continues like this. I knew one woman who lived in her past. Her husband had died from demons hand but the woman kept living like her husband was alive. All the men she saw reminded her from him. Miroku knows I am not Sango. He just can't hide that in fact he wants Sango here. As far as I know, he never even told her. About his feelings, I mean.  
  
Miroku is a good friend. He has been taking care of me and Akira. He even accepts Akira as a half-demon, which everyone can't do. That is something I truly appreciate. I wonder if it was like this if Miroku had never met Inu- Yasha. Well, Miroku hadn't probably met me without Inu-Yasha. I don't know if they got along so well. What I have heard from Miroku, they actually got along pretty well after all. Or Miroku got along, Inu-Yasha didn't. I can imagine hot-tempered Inu-Yasha trying to argue with cool and polite Miroku. He is like a father-character to Akira. Sesshou-maru wouldn't be so good model of a man. I admit that. And that isn't only my opinion. I am grateful to Miroku he doesn't care Sesshou-maru is Akira's father. They haven't spoken to each other after what happened. It is so hard to believe it happened only twenty years ago. It seems like a lifetime.  
  
Miroku has got older. He is lucky to be alive. He survived from devouring to the vortex in his hand because of Naraku's death, but it took some power from him. He fought mentally hard to avoid that curse. Its disappearing was a relief, but it still affects him. His step is more careful than before. He looks down when he climbs stairs and uses a club more often. He was so full of energy and now he's just a shadow of his past. I think I can blame Sango. What makes me blame Naraku. That name still makes me shiver. We have hardly mentioned his name during these years. I have told Akira about him. It feels like Naraku is listening even though I know he is long gone. Dead like the others. Like Akira now. And I say Miroku talks like Sango is alive. Some things are hard to understand. Some things can't be changed. Like death. I am used to death. It has always been part of my life.  
  
" You are not completely happy before you are dead. " Back then I didn't agree with Sesshou-maru. Is it ten years? Or more? " But doesn't happiness depend on a person? " I asked. I wanted to believe that everyone could have a good life with people he or she loves. I considered 'love' and 'happiness' as synonymies. " Happiness depends on a person, love doesn't ", Sesshou-maru answered with that dark and dry voice of his looking me like he didn't want to talk about that subject. I wanted to ask what he knows about love, but I didn't. I knew what he would answer. Love doesn't depend on a person. I didn't understand him. There are only few who can. Or I think there are. I have never met anyone.. Most of the people think him as a cold-blooded killer. That in fact he is a demon makes people suspicious. I didn't understand that either. Miroku and his friends liked Inu-Yasha, but not his brother. And Inu-Yasha was a half-demon. Of course you should be bewared of a demon, but I wasn't. It wasn't naivety, I was a child, who was saved by a demon. Can you be angry towards a person who has saved you? Sometimes I didn't think his deed as a good one, but we always have our doubts.  
  
" Do you love your brother? " I inquired. He had never said he hated Inu- Yasha, but he hadn't said he loved him either. They had different mothers, but it didn't mean they couldn't be close to each other. I didn't know much about demons. They were something you are supposed to fear. I was lacking fear. After I met Sesshou-maru I always thought that every demon has its good sides. Some demons love their brothers, some demons love a mortal. Some demons love life itself. Can something thoroughly evil be able to love? I don't know, I am not thoroughly evil. And how can you know someone is thoroughly evil? All the demons aren't only evil. Sesshou-maru isn't. I am doing it again. Perhaps Miroku is right. I think too much.  
" It depends what you mean by love. Inu-Yasha isn't delighted to see me. "  
  
It was Sesshou-maru's only answer. I didn't ask again. I supposed he didn't know himself. Now it's already too late. Maybe it was already too late when Inu-Yasha was still alive. And Inu-Yasha's opinion about his brother is a mystery that can never be solved. I guess he was just as confused as Sesshou-maru. And I know Sesshou-maru is confused. You can't see it if you don't look into his eyes with him looking back. I have looked into his eyes just like Kagome looked into Inu-Yasha's. Poor Kagome... I never got to know her. Miroku says she was always happy and smiling. I saw her twenty years ago when I was a little child and I remember she was pretty. Miroku kept saying she was even prettier when she smiled that kind smile of hers. I always wanted that Miroku would say to someone that I was even prettier when I smiled. I don't know if he did.  
  
Kagome. She isn't here anymore. She was so young. Only fifteen. It is sad how death ended to be her destiny. Why didn't Sesshou-maru save her with Tenseiga like he saved me? Doesn't Tenseiga have ability to do things considered almost miracles? So why couldn't he save young Kagome? I feel sorry for a person I hardly knew. Miroku says it isn't weird. Those events were engraved into his mind, too. And Kagome was an important part of that memory. If there had been another way, if we had known... I told you Miroku has been talking to me like I was Sango. I have little by little accepted Sango's memories to be mine. Once in a while I forget I am Rin, not Sango. I think about Kagome and Inu-Yasha, Sango's little brother Kohaku and even Miroku like I was Sango. I feel sadness, happiness, all those feelings I thought Sango would have felt. And I am also sane. My feelings are strong and it isn't always good. Just like Miroku warns me not to think too much he warns me not to worry too much. I am a born worrier.  
  
I have started to feel Sesshou-maru's feelings, too. I know him enough well to do that. I feel those same confused feelings Sesshou-maru has towards Inu-Yasha. I think about his sword Tenseiga and its power to cure death. I think how I saved Rin, myself. I am a little afraid of that. Maybe I am imagining all those feelings. Or then I am only a good judge of human nature. Maybe both. Miroku has told me that Kikyo's little sister Kaede was amazing in that. She could tell right away who to trust. She was enough old for that. I wish I had known her better. I met her once before she died when Miroku and I visited her village. It was when I gave birth to Akira. Miroku was in better shape than now. He carried me half the way to the village because I couldn't even stand anymore. Kaede helped me to bring Akira to this world. Miroku collapsed. I laughed to it when I first time held Akira. Miroku needed Kaede's help more than I did. I picked on him for years. Even Sesshou-maru smiled to it when I told him. It wasn't a real one, but when he saw Akira, I saw a real, happy smile on his face. It was only a little smile that disappeared quickly, and he even tried to hide it from me. I sensed he was even more confused than usually. He told me not expect he would attend Akira's raising anyhow. He told me to trust Miroku.  
  
Sesshou-maru kept his promise. Akira saw him only rarely. Akira was a half- demon, so I was hoping someone could tell him about being one. I wanted Akira to be more like human than a demon, but I couldn't deny the existence of his demon side. Sesshou-maru knows something about half-demons, Inu- Yasha was hanoyu after all. The only advice I got from Sesshou-maru was to raise Akira with my heart. I was surprised to hear those words. It wasn't like Sesshou-maru I had got used to. This was the same Sesshou-maru who loved his little brother. He has two sides, both too mystical to explain completely. I bet I am the first one to try. Also Sesshou-maru seems to think I use too much time inside my head. No, that's not what he said. He said I use too much time inside my heart.  
  
I decided to take Sesshou-maru's words seriously and raised Akira with my heart. He was a curious child full of energy. He was always asking me things. What is that flower? Where does sun go by nights? I answered everything and taught him everything about nature. I didn't know all flowers names or how nature survived over winters. I taught about nature with my heart. I taught him to understand and listen to it, not to think nature only as a bunch of named pieces of flora. I hope I succeeded. Akira seemed to understand my teachings better than Miroku. Miroku didn't say it out loud, but I know he didn't want to bother himself. Nature worked of its own, so why to make it complicated? He doesn't want to touch subjects he can't truly affect. Our cottage is on the slope of a mountain surrounded by huge trees. There is enough nature for him.  
  
Something I wanted Akira to learn, was to appreciate Japanese landscape. I often sat somewhere and looked down at the deep forest below. I watched the trees and the mountains. I have seen the landscape changing for twenty years. I knew exactly where to look to find the smoke spirals coming from Kaede's village. Miroku told me to sketch the view I loved so much. I painted one picture. I was thirteen or fourteen, I didn't pay attention to aging. The picture is on the wall of my bedroom. I started to do it in the evening because I wanted to paint a sunset. I didn't finish it before the darkness came, so I used many short events doing it when the sun was in right place. The clouds were always in different places, but it wasn't a problem. The colours and the sun were more important. I didn't forget the smoke spirals. I am not a talent when speaking of arts and it can be seen in my work. About ten years before it was a real piece of art. Now that I think it is rough. But the colours are magnificent. I am still wondering how I caught all those hues of red, blue and yellow. Miroku says he wasn't surprised about my use of colours.  
  
" I knew it would look like that when you started to do it", he said to me some time ago. I threw a piercing stare at him.  
" You mean primitive? " I asked dryly.  
" I meant the colours ", he answered rolling his eyes in a very innocent way. I sighed.  
" Thank you very much, Miroku -sama. "  
" No, I really meant the colours. Why do you always think I'm judging you, Rin-chan? "  
  
Miroku had that jesting smile on his face again. I know he is a monk, very two-parted one, but I still hope he could show his energy more often. Pieces of it remain somewhere behind his cool mask. He was a handsome young man. Twenty years ago. He didn't look that attractive anymore. I could use that against him. I am good in finding weaknesses.  
" Well, it was your first work anyway ", he established with a sound of nostalgia in his voice. I looked at the picture. Yes, it was my first work and yes, it was rough. But it made me remember how I felt as a teenager. It was very precious to me and I had to protect it from Miroku's judging.  
" The sun is too big, your 'smoke spirals' are too far away and that tree over there is in a wrong place, but the colours are good ", Miroku said.  
" Miroku-sama! "  
" I didn't say I don't like it. "  
  
Akira was too liveful and curious to sit in a one place for long times. He didn't sit down and watch the landscapes with me, but he spent a lot of time examining my painting. Like Miroku he remembers all the mistakes I made when doing that picture. I used my own landscape as a teaching tool.  
" The persons contours are rough, but the colours are good. "  
" So you mean that no-one is perfect? " he said with eyes wide open.  
" Yes, and everyone has his or her good sides. "  
  
I never used the word 'human' when I taught Akira. It was something I wasn't sure about. Humans understand other humans, demons other demons. Who was Akira supposed understand? He could never be like a full human, neither like a full demon. He didn't have any friends. We only visited Kaede's village if we needed something special. Akira was with us, but other children were afraid of him because he looked different. Akira was more afraid of them. Akira was watching from apart their playing. I think it is also my fault Akira didn't have any friends. Parents knew Sesshou-maru and they knew Akira was his son. And I was a bad woman who had fell in love with a demon. I wouldn't have helped if I had said I wasn't in love with Sesshou-maru. As long as he was a demon it didn't matter what I said. I asked children and Akira if they wanted to play with each other, but Miroku told me to give up. If they wanted to be friends they wouldn't need me. It was this Miroku's 'the-nature-won't-need-us' -syndrome again. Sometimes it made me a little angry. I have to say Miroku was right about Akira.  
  
There were humans, but Sesshou-maru was the only demon Akira saw. I was a little worried that Akira would have problems when he grew up. He would go through a fight between human and demon side of his. My talk about home and love wouldn't help and I knew it. I was a human and my place had been with other humans until I met Sesshou-maru. It was my decision but Akira couldn't decide. He didn't belong anywhere and he noticed it very early. He might be as confused as Sesshou-maru. I felt already bad because I couldn't help Akira with that since I am a full human. I don't know about demons. Only about Sesshou-maru. Miroku didn't know how to help but he was supporting us both so we weren't alone with it.  
  
I don't have that problem anymore. Akira is dead and he isn't coming back. I wanted him to have a good life, if it is even possible for hanyou. I want to believe it is possible. In a battle there are losers and winners. Which one is my poor Akira? Was he saved from an uncertain future or was a good future taken away from him? I may never now. There are too many things I will never find out. Life is too perishable and mystical to compare with something as simple as battle. You can't compare life with anything. Except with another life.  
  
I shouldn't think about this. I don't see the difference between small and understandable things and too big and unexplained things. I should finally listen to Miroku and Sesshou-maru...  
  
____________________________________________________________________________ ____  
  
A/N: There it was. I have to say it's not easy to write this so don't expect me to put these chapters here very quickly ^^' Please review *bow* 


	2. The past calls

Reunion  
  
by Kradvity  
  
Righty... Again, I have to say that English isn't my native tongue ( which you must have already noticed ^^' ). I'm trying to correct all the grammar mistakes I make but I'm sorry if I don't realise all the mistakes. Let's just hope it doesn't make the story messy...  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Inu-Yasha which is good, because I couldn't have made the characters so good myself.  
  
Chapter 2: The past calls  
  
Mioko Kawahira  
  
It's just sooo boring. I don't even like school! So why is everyone fussing about it? Okay, maybe I don't _hate_ school but I don't love it either. I guess I'm one of those students who wanna be good but don't have enough interest in it. Or something like that, I don't know. Mom and dad both say I'm a smart girl. If it's so, then my brainwork is needed somewhere else than in school. If I just was good at math... Nowadays people appreciate math too much. But hey, it's not my fault, is it? Why can't people appreciate, let's say, cooking skills? I'm pretty good with food. I like to make food and eat it. All my friends wanna come to my place if we're hungry.  
  
So who needs maths? My friend Amber likes it very much. She's one of the best students in my class. It's a pity that math lessons are only ones she can attend. She was supposed to go to a school where they teach everything in English, but it was already full. So now she has a couple of own teachers who can teach in English. She's from Europe, from Scotland, actually. She can't really speak Japanese. I've tried to teach Japanese to her, but she thinks it's a too difficult language. It's weird I haven't noticed that. I'm not so good in English, but we understand each other. I mean I don't talk English well, but I understand it. And she's got that funny accent of hers. It's a real fun when she tries to spell Japanese! I like her 'cos she's able to laugh at herself. My other friend Etsuko is more serious person. She doesn't want to look ridiculous or get into embarrassing situations, but she's got some good advises. If I was in a trouble I could always ask her what to do.  
  
Everything was okay. So why me? Mom and dad wanted to send me to some stupid school in Tokyo. I didn't want to go to Tokyo! What about my opinion?! They didn't even ask me if I wanted to go! And I sure didn't. I had to leave all my friends to Nagano. That wasn't fair.  
  
" We send you a letter every day! " Amber said grabbing my shoulders and tossing me like a doll.  
  
" Really? " was Etsuko's comment. Amber scratched the back of her head. Etsuko is a realist. It was good that one of us was. If I could call it 'us' anymore.  
  
" Or maybe every week. "  
  
I didn't want to leave my best friends. What if I didn't get new friends in Tokyo? I'd be living in a school dormitory. I'd have to share my room with other people. Every little thing that could possibly go wrong managed to pop into my mind somehow. I'm not usually worrying too much, but my friends are all to me, they've always been, so how could I just let go of them? I'd known Etsuko for my whole life. We never even had any serious fights. And Amber's so unbelievable. How can I find anyone else with so much positive energy? I was really really mad to mom and dad, but I accepted their decision. I didn't want to start fight with them. I don't like fighting anyway. I'm usually the loser. If I fight with Jiro I lose every time. And if I say 'every', it means every. Big brothers sure are annoying. They're just causing trouble. Well, actually it's always been Jiro who saves me from getting into trouble. But most of the time he's annoying.  
  
I heard about Tokyo a few days before my fifteenth birthday. I told to Etsuko and Amber right away and we decided to put up the best birthday party I've ever had. It was the best birthday of mine. I don't know if it really was, but it was the last party with them for a while. I was able too see them on summer holiday. If I passed all the subjects, of course. Jiro is better in school than me. He's planning a great career. I think he can do it. He never gives up. I wish I could be like that. If I can't do something and keep failing I usually give up.  
  
Well, we rented a bunch of movies and bought lots of snacks and watched telly all night long. Mom, dad, Jiro and granny were at my uncle's place so we could be alone without being disturbed. When I've got friends at home mom comes to my room and asks if we wanted something and tries to find out what we're discussing about. Etsuko thinks my mom is sweet, Amber doesn't. She keeps her mouth shut if she doesn't have anything good to say. It's weird because Amber looks just like a person who says what she thinks and doesn't think. But Amber doesn't have many bad things to say so she talks pretty much and with incredible speed. Sometimes I have to tell her to slow down. I'm not _that_ good in English.  
  
I still have those gifts they gave me back then. Etsuko's gift was a silver necklace with a tiny dragon character on it. I wear it always. It's my lucky charm. At least I like to think that way. Dragon means great power. Maybe Etsuko thought I needed some power. I didn't ask her. Always when I'm s'posed to do a test I grab that little dragon and hold it in my fist. The first time I tried it I got the best test scores from my class. It was a biology test.  
  
Amber gave me something tourists buy when they come to Japan. It was a little, shining ball with a tag that had words 'Shikon Jewel' on it. I don't know where Amber had found it. I've heard about Shikon Jewel from granny. It's somekind of a legend. My Shikon Jewel wasn't real. The real one would have cost a fortune! I put my diary keys to Amber's gift. I asked Amber about the 'Shikon Jewel'. She didn't know what it was. She haven't even heard about it. She thought it was a brand. We tried to search information about the jewel but with no avail. The Shikon Jewel was a mystery and it remained as one. I promised to keep those gifts forever. You can always promise.  
  
Granny gave me earrings. It was a relief to notice the gift wasn't a fluffy jumper this time. Last year I got an orange jumper with white stripes. She want's to buy something special. She knows I don't like orange. Why did she give me an orange jumper? But mom and dad surprised me with their gift. They took me, Etsuko and Amber to Nagano sport centre where we could try different kinds of sports! Not like football or baseball or running, but bowling and other kinds of great stuff. My favourite one was when we tried bow and arrow. I surprised everyone. Even myself. Their had so stupid look on their faces when I shot to the middle of the target. Other people were applauding. Every arrow I shot flew exactly where I wanted. It was great! Like I was a real master. They beat me in the bowling and I could pay back! Jiro was the best after me but even he didn't get close to my results! They were amazed. I had never even seen a real bow in somewhere else than in telly what made it more amazing. I'm just a natural talent. Etsuko seemed to be a little jealous. She's been doing archery with her parents sometimes and I was better than she.  
  
" So, you can cook and shoot with a bow ", she said staring at me with her eyebrows lifted up. I ignored her comment. I was so happy to be the best even once in my life! It was a pity that there weren't many people to see it. If it only was a physical education lesson... Dad said I must had been a hunter in my last life. I rather thought I was a natural talent.  
  
Cooking and shooting. Those weren't the only things I was famous for. Everyone keeps telling me that I've got a wonderful smile. People like to photograph me because I'm always smiling and posing to the camera. I'm not one of those camera-shies. There are lot more pictures of me than Jiro. He's also posing but in a different way. Photos of him are so... official, and it makes him look older than he is. I wouldn't want to look older than I am. Jiro's pretty proud of himself. And they also say I'm pretty. I don't think about it. I don't want to look stupid but that's all. Etsuko instead... She runs away whenever she sees someone holding a camera ready to take a shot.  
  
I wrote everything into my diary. I wrote to my diary almost every day. I have so many diaries. I started my first one when I was at the first grade. Granny bought it to me as a gift. Jiro was protesting. He hadn't got a gift when he went to school.  
  
" You didn't cry at the first day ", granny reminded him. She didn't have to tell it but the answer was enough to Jiro.  
  
" At least I'm not a cry-baby ", he said. He made a song about me and my first diary and sang it always when Etsuko was visiting me.  
  
There were so many things I would miss after going to Tokyo. It was a big city with lots of great stuff. Except it's not as fun as with friends. I'd been into Tokyo a few times and I had planned to move there with Etsuko and Amber. Now I was going there alone and I was so down. Birthday cheered me up a little. Mom told me to think it as an adventure. She always tries to make everyone happy. Moving to Tokyo didn't make me happy, so I thought it must have been dad's idea. I didn't ask mom's opinion. She is a real benefactor. She takes me to fee market and buys used clothes more than we needed. Her point isn't to get new clothes but to help the sellers. Some times I go with her 'cos she likes to have company.  
  
I remember the last time I went with her. I was seeking for a skirt. Most of them were awful. Too old and too unfashioned. Fashion isn't at my passion list, but I don't want to remind my granny. Dad doesn't like mom's hobby. When it comes to clothes He's like Jiro. Official, official and official clothes are good. They hardly wear shorts...  
  
Then, a dark green skirt adorned with white flowers on its hem took my breath. It was really beautiful. I bought it right away. It wasn't even expensive! I like skirts and that was the most beautiful skirt I had ever had in my whole life. Amber would be so jealous! I could clearly imagine her face when she'd saw me wearing that green dream!  
  
When I got home I tried it immediately. It fit perfectly! I bought a skirt without trying it and it fit like it had been made for me! That's not usual. I spent a lot of time in shops trying to find a piece of clothing my size. It's frustrating! Maybe I should go with mom more often... It had pockets. I put my hands into them to see how deep they were. My fingers met a piece of paper. I almost got scared because I hadn't expected to find anything. Weird. Had the skirt's old owner forgot something in to the pocket or was it just a price tag? Why didn't they check if there was something left in the pockets before selling it?  
  
I grabbed the paper. It was old and all wrinkled. It'd been ripped off from a notebook or something. I opened it, carefully, so I wouldn't destroy it. Was it a shop list? Or someone's address? Or the skirt's washing instructions? It was no-one of them. It was a page from someone's diary. I was surprised. Who would leave a page from her diary to her skirt's pocket? I presumed it had been written by a girl. I knew only one boy who kept a diary. And he called it 'a journal', by the way. Oh, and it was in a _skirt's_ pocket.  
  
I wasn't sure if I should read the page. It wasn't mine. It might contain secrets. But I couldn't hold my curiosity.  
  
18.11.1997  
  
Dear Diary, I'm in a real trouble here. I failed the math test. How am I s'posed to study if I have to run in Feudal Japan fighting demons?! I have a future too! I'm still trying to figure out what I'll do after senior high. I want to set up a café and I'd have my charter customers! When they say ' I want my usual', I'd know right away what to give! It would be named after me like Misa's Café or Misa's something, I don't know. I even know the decorations! Lots of flowers and warm colours! And in the menu I'd have my special something. But now I have to study. See you tomorrow!  
  
- Higurashi Kagome -  
  
I read it many times. This 'Kagome' was talking about Feudal Japan and demons. It must be a joke. There are no such thing as demons. I didn't believe in demons. And how can anyone be running in Feudal Japan? This page can't be _that_ old. I checked the date. The eighteenth of November in 1997. It was twenty years ago. The writer is twenty years older than at the time she wrote the page. It was weird. But I wanted to think it as a joke, it couldn't be anything else, so I put it into my table drawer and decided to forget it. I decided so. I _decide_ lot of things. It's another story do I hold in my decisions. Someone left this piece of diary to the skirt's pocket so the next owner would think about it 'till death. It worked with me.  
  
I was curious but not _that_ curious. It was pretty creepy. I didn't show that paper to Etsuko and Amber. Etsuko would have thought it as a joke and Amber would have dragged me into a library. She never goes to library alone. There are books in English, too, but not as much as in Japanese. It was only a piece of paper. That's all. Next night I saw a dream where I fought a demon looking like Jiro wearing my green skirt. That was when I really forgot about the page.  
  
Along the story about the mysterious page of diary, I told my own diary about my birthday present in a sport centre. It was the first time when I used my diary keys with the fake Shikon Jewel on it. And then it happened. I didn't know what to write next. There were too many things to tell. I always use five or more pages to describe the last day. That's why they get full so quickly. It was ten p.m. and I was a little tired. I was holding the fake jewel in my closed hand. I shut my eyes and thought, what to write next, what to write next? Suddenly my fingers turned hot. Like when you keep hot kettle with bare hands. I startled and dropped the jewel. It made a jingling noise when it hit the wooden floor. I took a look at my fingertips. They were all red and burning hot. Terror was sneaking up on me when I lowed my eyes to the jewel. It looked normal. If it was hot it should have looked different, right? But it had felt like I had just taken it out of boiling water.  
  
I kneeled and stared at the jewel. I was afraid it would do something if I looked somewhere else. Silly, isn't it? But what would _you_ do if your key fob turned mad? It looked like a piece of junk tourists buy. It was white and shined a little. It looked like a very innocent key fob. I sat on my knees for ten minutes. Nothing happened so I decided to forget it. I slowly moved my fingers towards it. Suddenly it didn't look so innocent anymore. It was like a heavy, shrinked white cannon ball ready to break the floor below and sink to the core of the Earth. I gasped. And what really made freak out was that voice.  
  
It was threatening and dark and it made my heart stop for three seconds. I thought my blood started to run to the wrong direction. My stomach turned upside down and I thought I was gonna throw up. The voice was freezing me from inside. It made me shiver with fright. It was coming from somewhere very far and very near at the same time. If you think you've heard the most terrible voice in the whole world in a horror-movie, for example, you're absolutely wrong. That in fact you've seen all the Japan's horror-movies doesn't mean you wouldn't be scared of the voice I heard.  
  
I was so shocked I couldn't make sense of the words. I didn't now if it was Japanese. I was afraid to close my eyes. I didn't know what I might see. But I didn't see anything even though my eyes where wide open. I was gasping. My room disappeared and turned into a mess of brown patterns dancing around. It's the same as when I'm collapsing. I tried to stand up but I didn't feel my limbs. Like I had no body at all. My heart had moved to my head and was bouncing like a giant drum. That's what it felt like. Then I realized what that horrible voice was whispering.  
  
%Ssshikonn Jewel... Kagome Higurashi...%  
  
Shikon Jewel! But that thing wasn't real! Amber had probably bought it from a souvenir shop! This isn't s'posed to happen! It's only a cheap toy!  
  
%Unncompleted... reunionn...%  
  
I tried to convince myself I was only imaging everything. Afterwards I thought it was stupid. A key fob was speaking to me. But when I was kneeled on the floor on the verge of collapsing I seriously didn't think it was ridiculous.  
  
%Kikyo...%  
  
If this headache could just stop. If I could breathe more freely... Mom, where are you when I need you?  
  
%Inu-Yassha...%  
  
And then there was nothing but darkness.  
  
____________________________________________________________________________  
  
A/N: Uh oh... I used some odd marks like %. But I suppose you get the idea anyway. I still don't know how to get that stupid... well, that. I hope you liked. I'll try to get the next chapter here soon.  
  
Oh, if you saw name 'Hideki' somewhere up there, it means Jiro. First he was Hideki, but then I realized I had Hideki in two stories so I changed him into Jiro ^^'' Silly me... 


	3. Smoke spirals

Thank you from your wonderful reviews ^-^  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Inu-Yasha.  
  
_____________________________________________________________________  
  
Reunion  
  
by Kradvity  
  
Chapter 3 Smoke spirals  
  
Rin  
  
It is strange how everything seems to start from grief and sorrow. I have always wanted to believe that somehow every story has a happy ending. I was an optimist. My own story was the one I wanted to end happily the most. What means the end? The end of a short story or the end of someone's life? Start is easier to understand. If happiness depends on a person, then so must the end. When people say they hope something to end well, do they really know what they mean even themselves? Maybe not, but hope might be the only thing they have and hope is a good thing to rely on. No-one can take it from you. It is something you have to decide yourself. I want to believe so. I have been afraid that someone tells me that hope can be taken away. What makes me more afraid is Sesshou-maru's suitability to be that person.  
  
" Have you ever had any hope for something? " I asked. Sesshou-maru wasn't interested in fifteen-year-old girls curiosity. He gave me one long stare and continued thinking. I wished I knew what he was thinking. It is not certain that he knows even himself.  
  
" I am hoping you would shut up ", he answered sharply. I didn't give up. I was going to make Sesshou-maru answer, no matter what it took. I was full of indefinite answers he gave me. He was too bored or too afraid to answer straightly.  
  
" You know what I mean. "  
  
" Do _you_ know what you mean? "  
  
I whiffed angrily. He always did that. Tried to confuse me. He knew my weaknesses and used them against me. I still haven't figured out his, which made the situation unfair.  
  
" I don't have anything to hope for so stop bothering me and go to that monk. "  
  
He stared at me crossing his hands when a rejoicing smile spread over my face.  
" You _are_ hoping for something! " I said triumphantly receiving a piercing look from him. His face didn't show any feelings when my happiness increased to a little laugh. He was obviously waiting for an answer but I knew he wouldn't ask it if I didn't say it myself.  
  
" You are hoping that Miroku raises me well. "  
  
" Excuse me? "  
Still no feelings were shown on his face.  
  
" You don't want me to be like you. You are hoping I will be a good person. "  
  
" If that is what you ended up with I have overestimated your intelligence. "  
  
" Admit I am right! "  
  
" You can't be like me. You are a human. "  
  
" _You know what I mean_ ", I said accentuating every word.  
  
I know I was right. Sesshou-maru ended that conversation by escaping. He said he sensed a demon approaching our cottage and left. He keeps living near our home because he wants to protect us from demons and suspicious villagers. We couldn't go to village anymore because Akira had caused trouble there. He was innocent but he was automatically guilty because he was a half-demon no-one liked. Same night the villagers came to us. I was watching my landscape so I saw them first. About twenty persons, men and women were climbing up the mountain holding weapons and torches. I ran to the cottage.  
  
" Miroku, the villagers are coming here ", I said to him quickly. Always when I get scared I forget to call him Miroku-sama. He looked worried. I knew he would defend us but there were twenty people against us two. Akira was standing behind us. Sad and guilty look on his face made me mad. How could those people do this to him? He was still only a child, no matter what he was.  
  
" You should go with Akira. I can't use my skills against humans but I can always fight " Miroku said looking at me piercingly and worried.  
  
" You? You are half-dead. I suggest you go with Akira and I stay. "  
  
Miroku wasn't willing to do that. He wasn't a coward and his pride prevented him from escaping. Looking like a coward was part of his imago. He was a monk and the villagers didn't hate him. They thought I had put him under a spell. They might not fight Miroku but I didn't want to take that risk. I would rather risk myself.  
  
" Just go. We don't discuss this any further, " I said and stepped out of the door facing the villagers leaving Miroku and Akira inside. I prayed Miroku would manage to take Akira somewhere safe. Akira was in better safe with him. I would fight with all my heart. My eyes were flaming when I stared at the man front of me.  
  
" Come on you dirty pigs! Use superior power against a defenceless woman if you dare! " I shouted. I was so mad I didn't think what I was saying. I don't usually lose my nerve but when I do I turn totally mad and most of the people escape when my face starts to turn red. Some of the villagers looked frightened. I heard whispering about me being a demon, too. The man standing nearest me wasn't afraid.  
  
" Surrender the hanyou and we leave you in peace ", he said. People around him were gathering strength. I didn't have a chance even against the man but I didn't think about it, of course.  
  
" You dream ", I spat and rushed at him trying to strangle him. I was shouting and cursing him while the others tried to get me off their leader. Striking pain in my left ribs made me let go of his throat. I didn't know what had hit me but luckily it wasn't a katana or anything else sharp.  
  
I jumped up and caught a torch. I didn't have time to use it. Someone knocked me out and I collapsed. So that was the great and unbelievably brave fight of mine. I am a terrible fighter. Fighting asks good nerves and ability to think your moves. When I fight I just thrust blindly at every direction and scream. Sometimes it works. I can scare people, not fight them.  
  
It was next morning when I woke up. Sun was shining through the window.  
  
" What were you thinking? "  
I faced Sesshou-maru's piercing gaze. I was lying on a bed. Miroku and Akira were standing behind him looking worried. I didn't see them. I had problems in keeping the room still.  
  
" Is Akira alright? " I murmured. My head was hurting. So were my ribs. But I hadn't broke them after all.  
  
" Use superior power against an defenceless woman if you dare? " Sesshou- maru repeated. I blinked my eyes. Sesshou-maru had saved us. But with what consequences?  
  
" Did you kill them all? " I asked with horror in my voice. I was confused. I wanted them to be dead and alive at the same time. I wanted to blame someone from Akira's suffering.  
  
" I would have but your monk wanted to save them. "  
  
I saw Miroku and Akira. I was so relieved I could have collapsed again. Sesshou-maru looked at me coldly. He might have killed Miroku from letting me fight but he didn't. Akira and I would have been sad. And he would have had to help us more often. I think it was the last alternative that made him leave Miroku alone.  
  
From that day on Sesshou-maru started to visit us. Or me, actually. Not so often and he didn't want Miroku or Akira to see him, but I noticed him when I was walking in the forest. The villagers wouldn't come again but I suppose he didn't want to take any risks. Sesshou-maru had killed few of them. He didn't tell me he was watching over us and I didn't ask him. We hardly spoke to each other. I was always worried if I didn't see Sesshou- maru anywhere. He usually let me see himself so I wouldn't worry. I knew he was fine, he was a demon. A dangerous one, maybe, but he is still immortal. He can be killed. He has many enemies.  
  
Miroku quietly accepts him. He doesn't think I love him but he knows Sesshou-maru means something to me. And he knows how it hurts to lose an important person. He doesn't want it to happen to me. I definitely wouldn't call Miroku Sesshou-maru like he called me Sango. I don't know if I look like Sango, but Miroku and Sesshou-maru are like night and day. Miroku has dark hair and eyes, Sesshou-maru silvery hair and golden eyes. They couldn't look more different than they already did. Miroku looks like the night, Sesshou-maru like the day, but their personalities are the exact opposite. I wonder which one I am. I would like to be the evening like in my painting.  
  
The smoke spirals in my painting remind me of that night when Akira's life was in danger. I can't say mine wasn't. Before that incident they reminded me of Kaede and mankind I have always loved. But now I only see sorrow and hate when I watch those spirals I made. I wanted to get them off the painting but Miroku, again, told me to leave them. It made me think that the hate villagers felt for us was on his "the-nature-won't-need-us"-list. I gave up. I am tired of arguing with him about his point of view. I want to affect every little thing and he couldn't care less about most of them. Miroku isn't as interested in human brain as I am. He likes to think other things. Not human _brain_ but some other parts maybe. I bet his interest towards women hasn't entirely disappeared. He claims it has.  
  
Sesshou-maru was keeping an eye on us and I could finally relax. Miroku didn't trust Sesshou-maru enough to relax but it was just good for me. I didn't have to worry because Miroku was doing it all the time. He tries to act he isn't worrying. I couldn't have relaxed if I had known what was going to happen. It was only a month after the ambush of the villagers. I was talking with Miroku about everything. Most of our conversations turn into argue. Somehow that one turned to Kikyo.  
  
" Last time I saw her was when Naraku was destroyed. She disappeared after that. "  
  
" Do you know how and where? " I asked. I was curious about everything that happened twenty years ago. I think Miroku liked to tell me. Reason number one was that in fact it was one of those things he knew better than I.  
  
" The Shikon Jewel disappeared and I think that was what made Kikyo do the same. "  
  
" So, is she dead now? "  
  
" She has been dead for seventy years, Rin-chan. I don't think she is coming back anymore. "  
  
I thought hard. The Shikon Jewel... Sesshou-maru has been looking for it. No-one has seen it for twenty years.  
  
" What if the Shikon Jewel was found? " I asked quietly.  
  
" If it even existed anymore it would affect our lives somehow. I think we would feel it. "  
  
Again Miroku was talking about 'us'. I had never seen the Shikon Jewel except from long distance.  
  
" You don't want Kikyo to come back, do you? " I asked. Miroku didn't want to talk about it but I couldn't hold myself from asking. His eyes turned shady.  
  
" She was twisted. "  
  
" She was murdered by Naraku. "  
  
" Rin-chan, you didn't see what she did. "  
  
A-ha. Finally. Now I _don't_ know. Where is 'us'?  
  
" You told me that Urasue made her come back. "  
  
" It wasn't Kikyo anymore. Kagome-chan had her soul. " Miroku said sounding angry. It just made me more excited. I bit my lip. I was winning this. Miroku didn't want to talk about this. He didn't find the right words to say what he wanted. I wanted him to stop using 'us' and this seemed a good way to try it.  
  
" If you hate Kikyo you also hate Kagome ", I said staring at him.  
  
" No, I... "  
  
" Everything Kikyo loved was taken away from her. How can you hate her from that? "  
  
" STOP TWISTING THINGS! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED! "  
  
It was the first time Miroku had ever shouted to me. It wasn't exactly what I had wanted. I didn't want to upset him, just to make him think. He usually never shouts or even speaks loud, so I got a little scared. This was something he _really_ didn't want to discuss.  
  
" I am truly sorry , Rin-chan. "  
  
" No, _I_ am sorry. I _don't_ know what happened ", I said and placed a little kiss on his cheek. That was when Miroku understood there was no 'us'. He realized that 'Miroku and Sango' wasn't the same as 'Miroku and Rin'. I am glad I made it.  
  
" But you have to promise you don't talk about Kagome-chan that way. "  
  
" I promise. Have you seen Akira? "  
  
We had forgot about him while we were arguing. Akira is a half-demon and more powerful than a human child but I would have felt I was a bad mother if I hadn't watched over him. At that moment I felt like a bad mother. We searched the house but with no avail. I really started to worry. Miroku left to the village. I doubted Akira had gone there. He wasn't that stupid or stubborn. I went to the forest. He wasn't lost, he knew this forest, but he was only six and all alone. I hoped Sesshou-maru had found him. Sesshou- maru kept other demons away from the cottage so what could Akira possibly encounter? I didn't want to think about it.  
  
I yelled his name. My voice was echoing like the forest had yelled back. I tried to listen if Akira answered me but the only thing I heard was wind dancing in the treetops. I shouted until my voice broke down. I was running in the forest with tears in my eyes. I fell few times. I didn't see Sesshou- maru either. I called him once. I thought he wouldn't come. I hoped Miroku had found Akira. Or that Akira was sleeping somewhere in the cottage and we just hadn't noticed him.  
  
I wasn't going to give up. I would keep searching. Only Miroku's or Sesshou- maru's message about Akira being safe would make me stop. The sunset made everything flame like in fire. I hoped that sunset I loved would help me. If nothing else would then even my precious sunset. There, deep in the forest I raised my eyes to the sky. Something flew there. Something very long. It wasn't flying aloft. A snake? Flying snake? Could it be some kind of a demon? What kind of a demon looks like a snake and flies? Suddenly it started to come closer and closer. It was heading down to the forest. I started to run again. I looked up so that I wouldn't lose it which made me stumble.  
  
Then I saw someone in front of me running among the trees. The runner was short and had black hair. Like Akira. I yelled at him. He stopped and looked at me. It was Akira. I told him to stay there but he continued running. I didn't understand it. Was something drawing him to that direction. If only Miroku or Sesshou-maru was here. I was scared to death.  
  
Akira stopped. He stood there like a statue. I was out of breath but I kept running. My kimono was dirty and ragged. I would never use it again. My heart was beating like I drum. I was about to collapse.  
  
" Akira? "  
  
There was someone else too. A woman. Long-haired woman dressed in white and red. Her face was somehow familiar. There were five snakes flying around her. They weren't snakes but that moment it was the only thing I could think of. She looked at me smoothing the head of one snake. I stared at her. It felt like I had died for a few seconds when I recognised her. It felt like a dream I had seen many years ago. The things I think of the most have a nasty habit to become part of my life.  
  
" Kikyo? "  
  
_______________________________________________________________________  
  
A/N: Now, I couldn't edit this chapter and put it here since my coputer wasn't in the coniditon for that. And all my fics are _only_ on my computer. So ^^''' But here it is now. Thank you from reading my primitive fanfic again ^^^ 


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